Lyrid Meteor Shower Peaks this Weekend

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An annual meteor shower is set to peak this weekend, but the
showing likely won't be as strong as it has been in years past.

The Lyrid
meteor shower should give skywatchers in darkened parts of
the world a decent show late Sunday night (April 21) and early
Monday morning (April 22), but the glare from a nearly full moon
will probably impede the view for many stargazers.

"The Lyrid meteor shower will be best seen in the early morning
hours of April 22," officials from the Space Telescope Science
Institute said in a video. "Moonlight will interfere with this
year's display, but away from city lights, you might see up to 20
meteors per hour."

NASA meteor scientist Bill Cooke was a bit more pessimistic,
telling SPACE.com via email that viewers under dark skies can
expect to see about 10 meteors per hour during the peak, which is
just three days before the April 25 full moon.

Meteor showers like
the Lyrids occur when the Earth passes through pieces of
cosmic debris left behind by periodic comets as they orbit the
sun. These sloughed-off particles enter and burn up in the
planet's atmosphere, creating brilliant streaks every year.

The Lyrids — named because they appear to originate from the
constellation Lyra — were spawned from a
comet known as C/1861 G1 Thatcher that flies past the Earth
once every 415 years. This shower has been observed in mid-April
for at least 2,500 years, according to NASA scientists.

Editor's note: If you snap an amazing photo or
shoot some incredible video of the Lyrids or any other celestial
object or event, and you'd like to share it for a possible story
or image gallery, please send images and comments, including
location information, to Managing Editor Tariq Malik at
spacephotos@space.com.